At least 40 migrants died after boat sinks off Italy

The bodies of at least 40 migrants were located this Sunday off the coast of southern Italy, in the region of Calabria, after the sinking of the precarious boat in which they were traveling, confirmed the carabinieri (militarized police ) to GLM.

According to the source, It is not excluded that the number of deaths is higher while it was possible save about 50 survivors who managed to reach a beach in the town of Cutro (province of Crotone), where they have been taken care of by emergency teams since early in the morning.

The survivors told authorities that the precarious fishing boat they were traveling in broke in two and many of its passengers were shipwrecked as the seas were rough.

The boat apparently hit some rocks before the migrants could call for help.

The bodies, including a newborn and several children, appeared on the tourist beach of Steccato and, according to the carabinieri, are scattered for several kilometers.

While the rescue is progressing, the authorities are questioning the survivors to find out the circumstances of the accident and the origin of the migrants, who according to the local press are mainly from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The tragedy comes three days after Italy’s parliament on Thursday approved a new immigration decree, drawn up by the far-right government Giorgia Meloni, which substantially alters NGO ship rescue operations.

He The Senate approved the text last Thursday, with 84 votes in favor and 61 against.a week after having done so by the Chamber of Deputies, which accelerated the process with a vote of confidence.

While the rescue is progressing, the authorities are questioning the survivors to find out the circumstances of the accident and the origin of the migrants, who according to the local press are mainly from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. EFE/EPA/GIUSEPPE PIPITA

At the beginning of this year, the Italian Council of Ministers promulgated the decree with two points that substantially modify salvage activities: the obligation to request disembarkation immediately after a salvage and the assignment, by Italy, of distant ports

Thus, ships from organizations such as Doctors Without Borders and Open Arms had to travel up to 4 and 5 days to disembark rescued migrants safely.

The only ship to which the port initially assigned was changed during these months was the Sea Eye 4, which was traveling with 109 migrants and two corpses after two rescue operations in the central Mediterranean and managed to dock in Naples (south), while that since the first to whom it was sent was about five days from departure.

The decree also establishes a system of administrative sanctions which includes “the administrative detention of the vessel (against which an appeal is allowed) and, in the event of a recurrence of the prohibited behavior, its confiscation, preceded by a protective seizure”.

Moreover, they state penalties of 50,000 euros ($52,863) for vessels and up to 10,000 euros ($10,573) for the master and owner of the vessel.

According to data from the Italian executive, more than 10,000 migrants have arrived in Italy so far this year via the central Mediterranean, tripling the number of arrivals during this same period of 2022, while the total number of people landed on the Italian coasts amounted to more than 100,000.